A Method of Controlling a Relief Plate Production System Comprising a Plurality of Production Units, and Associated Relief Plate Production System

The field of the invention relates to a relief plate production system. Various embodiments in this document relate to methods of controlling a relief plate production system, and an associated relief plate production system, production units, and a central control means.

In known methods of controlling a relief plate production system, to manufacture a certain relief printing plate specific commands need to be input in different production units in the production system. Typically, an operator brings a precursor to a production unit and enters for example the precursor type, and optionally selects other settings also.

The process can be made more autonomous using a central control means in communication with one or more production units. The central control means typically sends a job instruction to a first production unit of the production line, whereupon the job is performed by the first production unit. The central control means may further coordinate the operations of the production unit. The production units passively receive control signals from the central control means and carry out the steps as indicated in the control signals from the central control means.

In addition, in some known methods of controlling a relief plate production system all the controls which are sent to all the production units come from the central control means. The system is therefore heavily reliant on the proper functioning of the central control means. Also, once the production units are chosen by the central control means they are used for the plate production. There are few possibilities to switch the production units once the instruction is given by the central control means.

Furthermore, in some known methods of controlling a relief plate production system an additional production unit needs to be added to it. However, this additional production unit may not be manufactured by the same company as that of the production units already in the system. Any additional production unit may therefore not be compatible with the units already in the system, and the additional production unit may not be able to receive or understand any control signals normally received by the existing production units.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure allow the production units to generate parameters for treating the relief precursor, not only based on the signals coming from the central control means but also adaptively based on information of each received relief precursor.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure aim to avoid disruption when one production unit is faulty.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure decrease the reliance of the whole production system on a single central control means. Some embodiments of the present disclosure make it possible progressively to choose certain production units according to the state of production, for example through choosing a production unit better suited to continue treating a relief precursor after the relief precursor has been treated by an upstream production unit.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure make it possible for production units previously not belonging to the production system and not compatible with the existing production units to receive nevertheless the instructions from the central control means and/or to interact with the existing production units.

each of the plurality of production units receiving a job instruction from a central control means and storing said job instruction in a list of job instructions, said job instruction including at least an identifier of a relief plate to be produced from a relief precursor; after the plurality of production units have received the job instruction, one production unit of the plurality of production units receiving a relief precursor and an indication of the identifier of this relief precursor, and treating the relief precursor in accordance with the received job instruction. According to a first aspect of the disclosure is a method of controlling a relief plate production system comprising a plurality of production units. The method comprises the steps of:

Thanks to these steps the production units can identify each relief precursor according to the identifier. In this way, the decision on how to treat the relief precursor is at least partially decentralised to the production units. The burden on the central control means is relieved. And each production unit can flexibly choose how best to treat the relief precursor based on their own treating properties. The identifier is attributed to the relief precursor at the beginning of the process and serves as identifier throughout the process and as identifier for the resulting relief plate.

In addition, the central control means sends the job instruction to each production unit. In this way it is no longer needed to tailor the job instruction to each production unit. Instead, it is now the production units that decide the parameters to treat the relief precursor based on the identifier of the relief precursor in addition to the job instruction from the central control means.

Sending the job instructions may be achieved via a wire, wireless, electromagnetic radiation, a local or non-local network or combinations thereof. More in particular any short-range or long-range communication means may be used between the central control means and the production units and/or amongst the production units themselves, such as WiFi, cellular, Zigbee, etc.

It is further noted that the central control means may be provided in a distributed manner in the cloud, and/or may be provided in a local device.

Typically, the identifier comprises a unique identifier such as a time stamp or a steadily increasing number. The unique identifier may comprise an object identifier as described in ITU-T Rec X.667 or ISO/IEC 9834-8:2005.

Preferably, the job instruction further comprises one or more plate related parameters, such as the type of plate, the thickness of plate, or the size of plate. Using such plate related parameters, a production unit may select the appropriate configuration settings for the treatment by the respective production unit.

Optionally, the job instruction may further include a customer identifier. In that way, a production unit may select configuration settings according to the wishes of a specific customer. For example, for a first plate type a different configuration setting may be selected for a first and second customer. To that end, a production unit typically stores configurations settings for different types of plates and for different customers.

Optionally, the job instruction may further include an image of the job. This allows an operator to easily recognise and/or select a job instruction from a list of job instructions stored on the production unit.

The first aspect of the disclosure may comprise any one of or any technically possible combinations of the following features:

The method further comprises, after or before the one production unit has treated the relief precursor, another production unit of the plurality of production units receiving a relief precursor and an indication of the identifier of this relief precursor and treating the relief precursor in accordance with the received job instruction.

With these features, the relief plate production system can treat at least two relief precursors at the same time based on the received job instructions.

The method further comprises broadcasting by the central control means of the job instruction to the plurality of production units.

Broadcasting here means sending the same job instruction to all the destinations (the plurality of the production units or to all the production units that are able to receive the job instruction from the central control means). With this feature, the burden on the central control means is further reduced for it neither distinguishes the job instruction nor its destinations. Instead, it will be up to the production units to analyse the job instruction if the relief precursor arrives at that production unit. In addition, sending an identical job instruction to the production units eliminates the need to make decisions already when the job instructions are sent from the central control means. Instead, configuration settings for a production unit may be selected by the production unit, e.g. based on a plate related parameter included in the job instruction.

Instead of broadcasting the same job instruction to all units, it is also possible to unicast or multicast of a job instruction to a subset of the plurality of production units. In this way different job instructions may be sent to different subsets (e.g. a first multicast to all imagers, a second multicast to all exposure units, etc.).

The method further comprises sending by the central control means the job instruction upon a request of a production unit of the plurality of production units and/or when a production unit of the plurality of production units is switched on or re-activated, such as when moving from a sleep mode to an active mode.

Under this possibility the central control means does not send out indiscriminately the job instruction. Instead, it only sends out the job instruction when certain condition(s) of the production units is (are) satisfied (here, upon a request and/or switching on).

50 50 According to some embodiments, at least one production unit requests from the central control meansa list of the job identifiers of all the available jobs. The at least one production unit then compares the list of the job identifiers of the production unit making the request and the list of the job identifiers of all the available jobs received from the central control means. The at least one production unit then requests the job instruction of at least one job whose job identifier is on the list of the job identifiers of all the available jobs but missing from the list of the job identifiers of the production unit making the request.

With these features there would be no need to create a job instruction on a production unit. The job instruction may be created partially or fully centrally on the central control means and/or partially or fully by an external software means and provided to the central control means. For example, the layouting of the job may be done using an external software package and production unit settings may be added to the job instruction by the central control means. In yet embodiments, it is also possible that the job instruction is created partially by the central control means and partially by the production unit.

Further, instead of requesting full job instructions from the central control means, the production unit only needs to request the job identifiers from the central control means to see which job instructions it does not yet have. In this way the computational cost of the production unit and/or the central control means is reduced.

The request is for example made by the production unit on a regular basis.

50 50 50 50 According to some embodiments at least one production unit compares the list of the job identifiers of the production unit making the request and the list of the job identifiers of all the available jobs received from the central control means. If the production unit notices that there is a job for which the production unit has the job instruction, but its corresponding job identifier is not in the list of the job identifiers received from the central control means, this production unit will remove the job instruction whose job identifier is not on the list of the job instructions received from the central control means. In this manner, the job instructions on the production unit are synchronised with the job instructions available in the central control means.

The plurality of production units comprises a set of production units, and the one production unit is one of the set of production units, wherein preferably the production units in the set perform substantially the same function in plate production; the method further comprising removing the job instruction from the list of job instructions stored on any other production unit of the set of production units which have not received the relief precursor.

The removal of the job instruction from other production units of the set makes sure that the relief precursor would not be treated again by another production unit in the same set and avoids that jobs are kept stored unnecessarily in a production unit. This is particularly advantageous when the production units in the set perform substantially the same function. The production units in the same set are at the same level in the production process, and with one production unit treating the relief precursor this relief precursor will not be treated again in a similar way by another production unit of the same set.

1 The method comprises sending a message Mby the one production unit to any other production unit of the set, either directly or through the central control means, indicating that the one production unit has treated the relief precursor or has started treating the relief precursor or has received the relief precursor.

1 1 1 This message Minforms the other production units in the set that the relief precursor is under the responsibility of the one production unit. This message Mfor example informs the other production units in the set that this relief precursor will not be under their responsibility in the treatment. This message Mcan comprise the instruction, which orders the other production units in the set to delete their job instructions.

2 The method further comprises sending by the one production unit a message Mto the other production unit, either directly or through the central control means, indicating that the relief precursor treated by the one production unit is ready to be treated by the other production unit, and optionally displaying the job instruction for the relief precursor on a display of the other production unit.

With these features, the one production unit can communicate with the other production unit. The other production unit is made aware that the treatment by the one production unit has ended or will end in the near future. The other production unit may then take any appropriate action such as display the job on a display of the other production unit so that an operator can easily select the job, include the job in a time schedule, etc.

receiving at the first production unit a job instruction and storing said job instruction in a list of job instructions, said job instruction including at least an identifier of a relief plate to be produced from a relief precursor; receiving a relief precursor and an indication of the identifier at the first production unit and treating said relief precursor in accordance with the received instruction; removing the job instruction from the first production unit; sending by the first production unit a second job instruction to the set of second production units, said second job instruction including at least the identifier; receiving the treated relief precursor at one of the set of second production units and further treating said relief precursor in accordance with the received second job instruction; removing the second job instruction from all second production units of the set. According to a second aspect of the disclosure is a method of controlling a relief plate production system comprising a plurality of production units including at least a first production unit, and a set of second production units directly downstream of the first production unit, wherein preferably the second production units in the set perform substantially the same function in plate production. The method comprises the steps of:

Thanks to these features, the job instruction is sent from to the first production unit to the second production units. It is therefore possible for the first production unit to feed information on the state of plate production into the second production units. Compared to the situation where the second production units simply follow the instruction they received before the first production unit has finished treating the relief precursor, under the second aspect the job instruction to the second production units is more closely tailored to the current plate production progress. The identifier is attributed to the relief precursor at the beginning of the process and serves as identifier throughout the process and as identifier for the resulting relief plate.

The second aspect of the disclosure may comprise any one of, or any technically possible combinations of the following features:

The sending comprises sending by the first production unit the job instruction to all production units downstream of the first production unit, or only to the set of second production units directly downstream of the first production unit.

When the first production unit sends the job instructions to all the production units downstream of it, it assumes a central role in controlling the plate production system. When the first production units only send the instruction to the second production units directly downstream of it, the total number of possible job instructions sent by the first production unit is reduced, decreasing the resource requirements on the first production unit. In addition, this leaves open the possibility that one of the second production units can send its own job instruction to some production units further downstream of this second production unit.

1 The method further comprises sending a message Mby the one second production unit to any other second production unit of the set, when the one second production unit has treated the relief precursor or has started treating the relief precursor or has received the relief precursor, to remove the second job instruction, whereupon the other second production unit removes the second job instruction from a list of job instructions.

Under these features it is possible for one second production unit which has received the job instruction to inform other second production units in the set that the former is in charge of the treatment in this set, and the latter would not be needed in the treatment of this specific relief precursor. This gives certainty to the other second production units. This also frees up computational resources in the other second production units.

The method further comprises, after receiving the relief precursor at the one second production unit, reading the indication of the identifier by the one second production unit, and retrieving the second job instruction from a memory of the one second production unit based on the read indication. The memory of the second production unit may be located in the second production unit or may be located in a different device or in the cloud.

With these features the second job instruction is stored locally in the memory of the second production unit. The second job instruction does not come completely from an external entity (either completely from the first production units or completely from the central control means). The volume of information sent to the second production units is therefore reduced. In addition, by reading the indication of the identifier the second production units can determining on its own the parameters to be used to treat the relief precursor without relying entirely on information received outside.

receiving the job instruction at all first production units of the set; sending a message by the first production unit to any other first production unit of the set, when the first production unit has treated the relief precursor or has started treating the relief precursor or has received the relief precursor, to remove the job instruction, whereupon the other first production unit removes the job instruction from a list of job instructions. The first production unit is part of a set of first production units, wherein preferably the first production units in the set perform substantially the same function in plate production. The method comprises:

Under these features it is possible for the first production unit which sends out the instruction also to inform other first production units that the former is in charge of treating the relief precursor and the latter are not needed in the treatment of these specific relief precursor. This frees up computational resources in the other first production units.

According to some embodiments the first production unit is an exposure unit, and the set of second production units is a set of development units.

The job instruction is received at the first production unit from an imaging unit or from a central control means.

Under this feature the first production unit is either controlled by another unit in the plate production process upstream of the first production unit, or by a central control means which is not a production unit in the plate production process.

The imaging unit is part of a set of imaging units, the method comprising receiving at the set of imaging units the job instruction from the central control means. The imaging unit may then send in turn the job instruction to the first production unit.

a plurality of production units comprising at least one connected production unit and at least one unconnected production unit. The at least one connected production unit is configured to communicate with a central control means and/or with another connected production unit. The at least one unconnected production unit is unable to communicate with the central control means and/or with the at least one connected production unit; and a mobile device configured to communicate with the central control means and/or with the at least one connected production unit. the mobile device receiving a job instruction, said job instruction including at least an identifier of a relief plate to be produced from a relief precursor; one unconnected production unit of the at least one unconnected production unit receiving a relief precursor and an indication of the identifier of this relief precursor, and treating the relief precursor in accordance with the received job instruction, sending by the mobile device a message to the central control means and/or to a connected production unit of the at least one connected production unit, said message indicating that the relief precursor has been or will be treated by the one unconnected production unit. the method comprises the steps of: According to a third aspect of the disclosure is a method of controlling a relief plate production system, the relief plate production system comprising:

Thanks to these features other production units and/or the central control means can send job instructions to the mobile device. When an unconnected production unit needs to be included in an existing production system, there will no longer be the need to carry out complicated integration of this unconnected production unit. Instead, it suffices to use the mobile device, which emulates the unconnected production device in the production system. This simplifies the inclusion of any production unit previously unrecognised to the existing production system into the existing production system.

The third aspect of the disclosure may comprise any one of, or any technically possible combinations of the following features:

The relief plate production system comprises at least two connected production units, the at least two connected production units being able to communicate with each other, either directly or through a central control means.

The method further comprises entering by an operator an input derived from the job instruction received on the mobile device, into the unconnected production unit.

Under this feature the operator acts as the bridge between the unconnected production unit and the mobile device. These reduces the need to modify the connected production units already in the system to accommodate the unconnected production unit. It also reduces the need to modify the unconnected production unit to be integrated into the existing system.

The method further comprises entering by an operator an input into the mobile device to indicate that a relief precursor has been or will be treated by the unconnected production unit.

The mobile device can then communicate this input to other connected production units and/or the central control means if present. The other connected production units can in this way be made aware of the status of the unconnected production unit.

The relief plate production system comprises a central control means, the central control means sending the job instruction to the mobile device and sending the job instruction directly to the at least one connected production unit without the intermediary of the mobile device.

The method further comprises sending by the mobile device the job instruction to at least one connected production unit of the at least one connected production unit downstream of the unconnected production unit.

Under these features the mobile device does not only receive job instructions. It also gives job instructions to at least one connected production unit. In particular, by sending the job instruction to a connected production unit downstream of the unconnected production unit the mobile device makes it possible that the status of the unconnected production unit can influence the treatment downstream of it even if the unconnected production unit itself cannot communicate with the connected production units.

Each of the first, the second, and the third aspect of the disclosure may comprise any one of, or any technically possible combinations of the following features:

The job instruction includes one or more look-up parameters for looking up one or more configuration parameters stored at the production unit. The one or more look-up parameters may include at least one of the following: a type of precursor, a thickness of the precursor, information on a size of the precursor, a client identifier.

Such one or more look-up parameters allow the production unit to look-up suitable configuration settings for performing the job.

The job instruction includes a reference to a preview image or a preview image.

The method further comprises, preferably prior to the receiving of a job instruction at a respective production unit, receiving the preview image at the respective production unit and displaying the preview image together with the job instruction at the respective production unit.

In this way, a preview image may be displayed on a display of the production unit so that an operator can more easily recognise and/or choose a job.

The job instruction includes a reference to one or more image files to be used by a production unit, such as an imaging unit, and/or an imaging setting to be used by the imaging unit.

The plurality of production units comprises an imaging unit. The method further comprises, preferably prior to the receiving of a job instruction at the imaging unit, receiving the one or more image files at the imaging unit.

The image files are sometimes relatively large in size. By only sending the image files to the imaging units instead of all the production units less connection and/or storage resources are used.

The job instruction includes, e.g. in its file name, a time stamp, e.g. including a date and a time, and optionally a name chosen by a creator of the file.

The method further comprises the production unit displaying a set of job instructions received at the respective production unit in an ordered manner, based on the time stamp of the set of job instructions.

The plurality of production units comprises an imaging unit. The indication of the identifier is generated in the relief precursor by the imaging unit.

With these features the imaging unit creates the indication, optionally based information input by an operator or on information from the central control means. An image indication has the advantage of being robust so that it can be kept well readable even after a number of treatments in the various production units.

The plurality of production units comprises at least a first set of productions unit upstream of a second set of productions units, wherein production units of the same set preferably have substantially the same function.

The plurality of production units comprises any one of the following: a transport unit, a pre-processing unit, an imaging unit, an exposure unit, a development unit, such as a washer or a thermal development unit, a post-processing unit, such as a dryer, a post-exposure unit, such as a cutting unit configured to cut the plate, a mounting unit configured to mount the relief precursor onto a sleeve or another substrate, a storage unit.

The method further comprises an operator reading the indication of the identifier and selecting a corresponding job from the list of jobs stored in a production unit of the plurality of production units, which has received the relief precursor.

The method further comprises the production unit reading the indication of the identifier and selecting a corresponding job from the list of jobs stored in a production unit of the plurality of production units, which has received the relief precursor.

By having the operator and/or the production unit selecting the job based on the indication of the identifier the production unit can use the most appropriate parameters to treat the relief precursor passing through it. In addition the order of jobs may be influenced e.g. in order to process a certain job with a higher priority.

The identifier is attached or integrated to the relief precursor or to a carrier, such as a trolley, carrying the relief precursor.

A production unit of the plurality of production units has a display, and the method further comprises displaying a subset of the job instructions received at said production unit, said subset corresponding with jobs which have been treated or are being treated by a production unit directly downstream of said production unit and which can be performed by said production unit.

Thanks to these features only the jobs that can be carried out or are being carried out by the production unit are displayed. The display does not show the jobs which cannot be performed by the production unit in question and consequently prevents the job that cannot be performed by this production unit from being chosen.

2 Said subset includes jobs for which a message (M) has been received from a downstream production unit directly downstream of the respective production unit to indicate that the relief precursor has been or will be processed by the downstream production unit.

With these features whether the received job instruction will be displayed depends not only on the production unit which has received the job instruction, but also a downstream production unit downstream of the production unit.

The plurality of production units comprises at least a set of productions unit having substantially the same main function but different optional functions, and a received job instruction is only displayed on a production unit having suitable optional functions.

These features make sure that when the received job instruction requires some optional functions only present on some production units, only those production units having the optional functions will be ordered to carry out the job instruction.

Any feature of any one aspect of the present disclosure can be combined with any feature of any other aspect(s) of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure also concerns a central control means configured for controlling a relief plate production system, preferably for use in a method as described above, comprising a plurality of production units. The central control means is configured for transmitting to each of the plurality of production units a job instruction, said job instruction including at least an identifier of a relief plate to be produced from a relief precursor.

The central control means may comprise any one of, or any technically possible combinations of the following features:

The transmitting comprises broadcasting the job instruction.

The transmitting comprises transmitting the job instruction upon receiving a request of a production unit of the plurality of production units and/or when detecting that a production unit of the plurality of production units is switched on or re-activated.

to inform at least one other production unit which no longer has to perform the job, to remove the job instruction; to inform at least one other production unit downstream of the respective production unit that the respective production unit will start or has started or has finished the job corresponding with the job instruction. The central control means is further configured to receive a message when a respective production unit of the plurality of production units will start or has started or has finished a job corresponding with a job instruction, and, in response, at least one of:

The job instruction includes one or more look-up parameters for looking up one or more configuration parameters stored at the production unit, wherein preferably the one or more look-up parameters include at least one of the following: a type of the precursor, a thickness of the precursor, information on a size of the precursor, a client identifier.

The job instruction includes a reference to a preview image, and the central control means is configured to transmit, preferably prior to the transmitting of the job instruction, the preview image.

The job instruction includes a reference to one or more image files to be used by a production unit, such as an imaging unit, and/or an imaging setting to be used by the imaging unit, and the central control means is configured to transmit to the imaging unit, preferably prior to the transmitting of the job instruction, the one or more image files.

The central control means is configured to generate the job instruction so that it includes, e.g. in its file name, a time stamp, e.g. including a date and a time, and optionally a name chosen by a creator of the file.

The central control means is configured to keep track of jobs corresponding with job instructions transmitted to the plurality of productions units and maintains a database storing for each job instruction which one or more production units have performed the job and/or are scheduled to perform the job, optionally together with time data related to when the job has been performed or when it is scheduled to be performed.

The present disclosure also concerns a production unit of a relief plate production system, preferably for use in a method of any one of the previous claims. Said production unit is configured to receive a job instruction including at least an identifier of a relief plate to be produced from a relief precursor, to store the job instruction in a list of job instructions, to receive a relief precursor and an indication of the identifier of this relief precursor, and to treat the relief precursor in accordance with the received job instruction. The identifier is attributed to the relief precursor at the beginning of the process and serves as identifier throughout the process and as identifier for the resulting relief plate.

The production unit may comprise any one of, or any technically possible combinations of the following features:

The production unit is further configured to send a request to a central control means to receive job instructions potentially intended for the production unit, and, in response, to receive said job instructions from the central control means and to store them and/or the production unit is configured to signal to the central control means that it is switched on or re-activated, and, in response to receive said job instructions and store them.

a message to inform at least one other production unit which no longer has to perform the job, to remove the job instruction; a message to inform at least one other production unit downstream of the production unit that the production unit will start or has started or has finished the job corresponding with the job instruction. The production unit is further configured to transmit, when the production unit will start or has started or has finished a job corresponding with a job instruction, at least one of:

The job instruction includes one or more look-up parameters for looking up one or more configuration parameters stored at the production unit, wherein preferably the one or more look-up parameters include at least one of: a type of the plate, a thickness of the plate, information on a size of the plate, a client identifier, and the production unit is configured to set one or more configuration parameters based on the one or more look-up parameters.

The job instruction includes a reference to a preview image or a preview image. The production unit is configured to receive, preferably prior to the receiving of the job instruction, the preview image, and to display the preview image together with the job instruction.

The production unit is an imaging unit, and the job instruction includes a reference to one or more image files to be used by the imaging unit, and/or an imaging setting to be used by the imaging unit, and the imaging unit is configured to receive, preferably prior to the receiving of the job instruction, the one or more image files.

The imaging unit is configured to generate, preferably image, the indication of the identifier in the relief precursor based on the received job instruction.

The job instruction includes, e.g. in its file name, a time stamp, e.g. including a date and a time, and optionally a name chosen by a creator of the file, and the production unit is configured to display a list of the received job instructions in an orderly manner based on the time stamps thereof.

The production unit is further configured to transmit the received job instruction to one or more other production units downstream of the production unit.

The production unit is or comprises any one of the following: a transport unit, a pre-processing unit, an imaging unit, an exposure unit, a development unit, such as a washer or a thermal development unit, a post-processing unit, such as a dryer, a post-exposure unit, such as a cutting unit configured to cut the plate, a mounting unit configured to mount the relief precursor onto a sleeve or another substrate, a storage unit.

The production unit is further configured to read the indication of the identifier of a received relief precursor and select a corresponding job from the list of jobs stored in the production unit.

The production unit further comprises a display and further configured to display a subset of the job instructions received at the production unit, said subset corresponding with jobs which have been treated or are being treated by another production unit directly downstream of said production unit and which can be performed by the production unit.

2 Said subset includes jobs for which a message (M) has been received from another production unit directly downstream of the production unit to indicate that the relief precursor has been or will be processed by the downstream production unit.

The present disclosure also concerns a relief plate production system comprising a central control means as described above and a plurality of production units as described above.

Flexographic printing or letterpress printing are techniques which are commonly used for high volume printing. Flexographic or letterpress printing plate are relief plates with printing elements, typically called reliefs or dots, protruding above non-printing elements in order to generate an image on a recording medium such as paper, cardboard, films, foils, laminates, etc. Also, cylindrically shaped printing plates or sleeves may be used.

Various methods exist for making flexographic printing plate precursors. According to conventional methods, flexographic printing plate precursors are made from multilayer substrates comprising a backing layer and one or more photocurable layers (also called photosensitive layers). Those photocurable layers are imaged by exposure to electromagnetic radiation through a mask layer containing the image information or by direct and selective exposure to light e.g. by scanning of the plate to transfer the image information in order to obtain a relief plate.

The relief precursor for example comprises a mask layer, a substrate layer, and a photosensitive layer placed between the mask layer and the substrate layer. The relief precursor is an imaged relief precursor before its exposure to electromagnetic radiation which cures a portion of the photosensitive layer. The relief precursor is for example a digital relief precursor or an analogue relief precursor. In case of a digital relief precursor the mask layer is an integral layer of the precursor, and the imaging of the mask layer results in an ablated layer, whereas in case of an analogue relief precursor the mask layer is typically a separate layer, such as a film, which comprises areas which are transparent for radiation and areas which are not transparent for radiation, and which is mounted onto the relief precursor prior to exposure with electromagnetic radiation. For example, a non-transparent ablatable layer on a substrate layer may be used and the structures may be generated by ablation, or the transmission of a layer of a film may be changed by exposure with a laser.

1 4 FIGS.to show some embodiments according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

1 FIG. 1 FIG. 12 FIG. 10 10 100 100 200 10 50 100 100 200 100 100 200 50 14 12 shows one of the most basic embodiment under the first aspect of the present disclosure.shows a relief plate production system. The relief plate production systemcomprising a plurality of production units,′,. The plate production systemalso comprises at least a central control meansconfigured to control the plurality of production units,′,. According the first aspect of the present disclosure, first each of the plurality of production units,′,receives a job instruction from the central control means. The job instruction includes at least an identifier of a relief plateto be produced from a relief precursor. The content of the job instruction will be described in detail with reference to.

100 100 200 100 100 100 200 12 12 100 12 100 12 14 14 After the plurality of production units,′,have received the job instruction, one production unitof the plurality of production units,′,receives a relief precursorand an indication of the identifier of this relief precursor. The one production unitthen treats the relief precursorin accordance with the received job instruction. After the treatment by the one production unitthe relief precursormay already become the relief plate, or may require additional treatment before it becomes the relief plate.

1 FIG. 100 12 100 200 12 100 100 12 100 200 100 100 200 12 12 100 200 12 100 200 100 Althoughshows that the production unitreceives the relief precursorand performs the treatment in accordance with the received the job instruction, it is equally possible that it is the production unit′, or the production unitthat receives the relief precursorinstead of or in addition to the production unit. For example, after or before the one production unithas treated the relief precursor, another production unit′,of the plurality of production units,′,receives a relief precursorand an indication of the identifier of this relief precursor. The another production unit′,then treats the relief precursorin accordance with the received job instruction. The job instruction received by the another production unit′,maybe the same as or different from the job instruction received by the one production unit.

According to some embodiments the indication of the identifier can be received by different production units at different moments but all before any treatment by any production unit has started.

12 Generally in the figures of this application the production units that receive the relief precursorare shadowed.

100 100 200 12 100 100 200 The plurality of production units,′,may perform substantially the same treatment to the relief precursor. Alternatively, at least one of the production units,′,may perform a treatment different from that carried out by the other production units.

1 4 10 FIGS.-and 50 100 100 200 According to some embodiments such as those shown in the, the method comprises broadcasting by the central control meansof the job instruction to the plurality of production units,′,. Broadcasting here means sending the job instruction to all the production units, preferably means sending the same job instruction to all the production units.

According to some embodiments, the broadcast job instruction is not displayed on the production units.

50 100 100 100 200 100 100 100 200 50 50 100 100 50 50 According to some embodiments, the method further comprises sending by the central control meansthe job instruction upon a request of a production unitof the plurality of production units,′,and/or when a production unitof the plurality of production units,′,is switched on or re-activated. For the latter case when the production unit in question is switched on it may send a message to the central control meansto inform the latter. Alternatively, the central control meansdetects when the production unitin question is available without any message from the production unit. According to some embodiments when at least a production unit requests the job instruction from the central control meansthe job instruction sent to the at least one production unit is identical. According to some embodiments when at least two production units request the job instructions from the central control meansthe job instructions are sent simultaneously.

2 4 FIGS.to 4 FIG. 3 FIG. 4 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 200 200 300 300 400 400 400 200 300 400 200 200 300 300 400 400 400 300 300 400 400 400 300 300 200 200 300 300 10 100 100 200 200 The embodiments inshow that the plurality of production units comprises at least a set of production units,′;,′;,′,″. The one production unit;′;is one of a set of production units,′;,′;,′,″. Preferably, the production units in the same set perform substantially the same function in plate production. According to the embodiment in, the set of production units comprises a set of development units,′ and a set of post-processing units,′,″ downstream of the set of development units,′. According to the embodiment in, the set of production units further comprises, in addition to the sets in, a set of exposure units,′ upstream of the set of development units,′. According to the embodiment in, in addition to the sets inthe production systemfurther comprises a set of imaging units,′ upstream of the set of exposure units,′.

100 100 100 100 12 50 The imaging units,′ are configured to image a mask layer; e.g. an imager comprising means to generate and control at least one beam of electromagnetic radiation. The imager may be a flatbed device or an inner or outer drum device, the latter may be equipped with a rotating drum. The imaging units,′ are configured to image the mask layer on the precursorusing the converted image file and/or imaging instructions generated by a control module, for example by the central control means.

12 100 100 12 200 200 12 FIG. According to various aspects of the disclosure the indication of the identifier is generated in the relief precursorby the imaging unit,′. The content of the identifier will be explained below in reference to. According to some embodiments the identifier is already visible to human eyes even before the relief precursoris exposed by an exposure unit,′.

12 The identifier is for example attached or integrated to the relief precursor. Alternatively, the identifier is attached or integrated to a carrier, such as a trolley, carrying the relief precursor. The carrier is for example linked to the production units wirelessly. Alternatively the trolley may have a plurality of screws each able to occupy at least two positions. Through the combination of the screws' positions information on the precursor type on the trolley can be obtained. For example, there are three screws on the trolley and each screw has two positions. In this setup the screws can have eight possible combinations in total which can represent eight plate types. According to some embodiments the trolley can be identified for example by an RFID tag.

200 200 12 200 2000 200 450 300 300 The exposure units,′ are configured to expose the precursorto electromagnetic radiation so that a portion of the photosensitive layer is cured. The electromagnetic radiation may have a wavelength in the range oftonm, preferably it is ultraviolet (UV) radiation with a wavelength in the range oftonm. The electromagnetic radiation changes the properties of the exposed parts of the photosensitive layer such that in the following development units,′ non-exposed portions of the photosensitive layer are removed by the development units. A flat or cylindrical relief printing plate may be formed.

300 300 12 The development units,′ are configured to develop the exposed relief precursor by removing a portion of the photosensitive layer that was not exposed to the electromagnetic radiation and that is therefore not cured. A skilled person is familiar with various ways of exposing the relief precursorto electromagnetic radiation, and of developing an exposed relief precursor including wet processes using water, aqueous solutions or solvents or dry processes using thermal treatment and removal of liquefied material by suction, blowing, particle beams, adsorbance or absorbance to a developing material.

400 400 400 300 300 The post-processing units,′,″ are configured to carry out a treatment after the relief plate is developed by the development unit,′. Such post-possessing may be exposure to electromagnetic radiation (e.g. UV light), to liquids or gases or combinations thereof.

More generally the plurality of production units comprises any one of the following: a transport unit, a pre-processing unit, an imaging unit, an exposure unit, a development unit, such as a washer or a thermal development unit, a post-processing unit, such as a dryer, a post-exposure unit, such as a cutting unit configured to cut the plate, a mounting unit configured to mount the relief precursor onto a sleeve or another substrate, a storage unit. The pre-processing unit can comprise any production unit that carries out a treatment before imaging and/or exposing. The post processing unit can comprise any production unit that carries out a treatment after the relief plate development.

100 100 200 200 300 300 400 400 400 100 100 200 200 300 300 400 400 400 12 According to some embodiments a production unit,′;,′;,′;,′,″ can store locally in its memory the job instructions that it has received. In addition or alternatively, a production unit,′;,′;,′;,′,″ can store a list of jobs that can be carried out by this production unit. Each job on the list for example corresponds to at least the one treatment parameters which this production units can provide to a relief precursor. Treatment parameters may be one or more of the following and may be combined in any possible combination: imaging resolution, size of imaging area, imaging beam size, imaging beam form, imaging beam intensity, number of beams, speed of imaging (rotation speed), presence and/or location and/or type of surface screening, vacuum level, focus information such as in focus or out focus, partial exposure (for example, only a part of the image file is imaged), transport means (e.g. carrier, trolley, endless belt, robotic arm), transport direction, transport start and/or end, transport speed, transport orientation, exposure time, exposure intensity, exposure speed, size of exposed area, exposure cycles, exposure profiles, wavelength of electromagnetic radiation for exposure, dose of exposure, distance of light source from precursor, type of development (e.g. solvent water or thermal), developing conditions, relief depth, floor height, developing time, developing speed, developing temperature, developing liquid, developing material, developing cycles, drying method, drying time, drying temperature, drying location, post exposure wavelength, post exposure time, post exposure intensity, post exposure location, storage location, storage time, storage temperature, cutting information, cutting marks, cutting lines, registration marks.

2 4 FIGS.to 50 300 300 50 400 400 400 50 200 200 50 100 100 As shown in the, the central control meansmay send the job instruction to all of the development units,′. The central control meansmay send the job instruction to all the post-processing units,′,″. The central control meansmay send the job instruction to all the exposure units,′. The central control meansmay send the job instruction to all the imaging units,′.

50 50 100 100 50 200 200 50 300 300 According to some embodiments, the central control meansunicasts/multicasts different job instructions to different sets of production units. For example, the central control meansmulticasts a first job instruction to one or all the imaging units,′. For example, the central control meansmulticasts a second job instruction to one or all the exposure units,′. For example, the central control meansmulticasts a third job instruction to one or all the development units,′.

100 100 According to some embodiments, the image files may be unicast/multicast only to the imaging unit(s),′ and not to all the production units.

12 12 100 100 200 200 12 200 200 300 300 12 300 300 400 400 400 12 12 Preferably, the relief precursorcan move from any one production unit in one set of production units to any one production unit in another set of production units. For example, the relief precursorcan move from any imaging unit of the set of imaging units,′ to any exposure unit of the set of exposure units,′. For example, the relief precursorcan move from any exposure unit of the set of exposure units,′ to any development unit of the set of development units,′. For example, the relief precursorcan move from any development unit of the set of development units,′ to any post-processing unit of the set of post-possessing units,′,″. In the figures, the hollow arrows with the solid line represent the way in which the relief precursoractually travelled, and the hollow arrows with the dashed line represent the ways in which a relief precursorcan but has not actually travelled.

5 6 FIGS.and 5 FIG. 12 200 200 200 12 200 12 200 200 300 300 300 12 300 12 300 300 400 12 400 400 12 400 400 400 According to some embodiments, such are those represented in, the method further comprises removing the job instruction from any other production unit of the set of production units which has not received the relief precursor. As presented in, the upper exposure unitin the set of exposure units,′ has received the relief precursor. The job instruction sent to the lower exposure unit′, which has not received the relief precursor, of the set of exposure units,′, is removed. In a similar way, the lower development unit′ in the set of development units,′ has received the relief precursor. The job instruction sent to the upper development unit, which has not received the relief precursor, of the set of development units,′, is removed. The upper post-processing unithas received the relief precursor. The job instruction sent to the other post-processing units′,″, which have not received the relief precursor, of the set of post-processing units,′,″, is removed.

1 50 1 12 12 12 1 1 12 1 5 FIG. 6 FIG. According to some embodiments the method comprises sending a message M(indicated by a dotted arrow) by the one production unit to any other production unit of the set, either directly (as the case in) or through the central control means(as the case in). The message Mindicates that the one production unit of the set has treated the relief precursoror has started treating the relief precursoror has received the relief precursor. Directly here means sending the message Mamongst the production units of a set without going through a central control means. The message Mis preferably sent from the production unit which has received the relief precursor. The message Mfor example contains the instruction to the other production units of the set to remove the job instruction which they have received.

5 FIG. 5 FIG. 2 50 2 2 12 2 2 2 50 2 200 300 300 2 400 400 400 2 According to some embodiments, such as the one shown in, the method further comprising sending by the one production unit a message M(indicated by a dashed arrow) to the other production unit, either directly or through the central control means. The message Mindicates that the relief precursor treated by the one production unit is ready to be treated by the other production unit. The one production unit here may not belong to the same set as the other production unit. The message Mis preferably sent from the production unit, which has received the relief precursor. The message Mis for example sent from a production unit to another production unit in its downstream. According to some embodiments, the message Mis sent from a production unit to several or all the production units in its downstream. According to some embodiments, the message Mis sent to its destination via the central control means. In the embodiment in, the messages Mare sent from an exposure unitto the development units,′. As an alternative or in addition, the message Mmay be sent from an exposure unit to one or some or all the post-processing units,′,″. Optionally, the method also comprises displaying the job instruction for the relief precursor on a display of the other production unit. The message Mfor example contains the command to display the job instruction on the display of the other production unit.

7 9 FIGS.to 7 9 FIGS.to 10 100 100 200 200 300 300 400 400 400 100 100 200 200 show several embodiments under the second aspect of the present disclosure. The plate production systemcomprises a plurality of production units. The plurality of production units includes at least a first production unit,′ and a set of second production units,′;,′;,′,″ directly downstream of the first production unit,′. According to the embodiments inthe plurality of production units includes a set of first production units,′. Preferably, the first and/or second production units in the set perform substantially the same function in a plate production process.

200 200 300 300 According to some embodiments the first production units,′ are exposure units. According to some embodiments the second production units,′ are development units.

7 9 FIGS.to 7 9 FIGS.and 8 FIG. 10 100 200 200 10 100 100 100 According to the embodiments in, the plate production systemalso comprises at least an imaging unitupstream of the first production unit,′. The plate production systemmay comprise one imaging unit() or a set of imaging units,′ (). Preferably, the imaging units in the set perform substantially the same function in a plate production process.

200 200 14 12 Under the second aspect of the disclosure, the method comprises first receiving at the first production unit,′ a job instruction. Said job instruction includes at least a identifier of a relief plateto be produced from a relief precursor.

12 200 200 200 200 12 Next, a relief precursorand an indication of the identifier of the relief plate are received at the first production unit,′. The first production unit,′ then treats said relief precursorin accordance with the received instruction.

200 200 The job instruction is then removed from the first production unit,′.

7 8 FIGS.and 100 100 200 200 1 100 200 100 200 100 200 12 12 12 1 100 200 100 100 200 200 300 300 According to some embodiments such as those shown in, the first production unit is part of a set of first production units,′;,′. Preferably the first production units in the set perform substantially the same function in a plate production process. The method for example comprises receiving the job instruction at all the first production units of the set. Then, the method comprises sending a message Mby the first production unit′;′ to any other first production unit;of the set, when the first production unit′;′ has treated the relief precursoror has started treating the relief precursoror has received the relief precursor, to remove the job instruction. Upon receiving the message Mthe other first production unit,removes the job instruction from a list of job instructions. In these embodiments the first production unit may be an imaging unit,′ and/or an exposure unit,′ and/or a development unit,′.

1 50 50 1 According to some embodiments, the message Mmay be sent to the central control meansand the removal of the job instruction from any other production unit of the set is carried out centrally by the central control means. In these embodiments even without a message Mby one production unit to any other production unit of the set, the job instruction of any other production unit of the set can still be removed.

200 200 100 100 50 100 100 100 50 8 FIG. The job instruction is received at the first production unit,′ from an imaging unit,′ or from a central control means. According to some embodiments such as the one shown in, the imaging unit′ is part of a set of imaging units. The method comprises receiving at the set of imaging units,′ the job instruction from a central control means.

200 300 300 Then, the first production unit′ sends a second job instruction to the set of second production units,′. Said second job instruction includes at least the identifier.

7 8 FIGS.and 9 FIG. 9 FIG. 100 100 200 200 300 300 100 100 100 200 200 100 200 300 200 300 300 200 According to some embodiments such as the ones in, the sending comprises sending by the first production unit,′ the job instruction to all the production units,′;,′ downstream of the first production unit,′. Alternatively, as shown for example in, the first production unitsends the job instruction only to the set of second production units,′ directly downstream of the first production unit. Under this embodiment, preferably the method further comprises sending by the second production unita third job instruction to the third production unitdirectly downstream of the second production unitor to the set of third production units,′ directly downstream of the second production unit. More generally, according to some embodiments under the second aspect of the present disclosure each production unit only sends job instructions to the production unit(s) directly downstream of it. The downstream production unit(s) then send further job instructions to the production units further and directly downstream of the downstream production unit(s) in turn. One example of these embodiment is shown in.

300 300 200 300 300 50 200 50 If the second production units,′ normally receive the job instruction from the first production unit, according to some embodiments at least one of the second production units,′ may seek instruction from the central control meansif there is no instruction coming from the first production unit. More generally, a production unit can seek instruction from the central control meansif there is no job instruction coming from a production unit upstream or directly upstream of it.

200 200 300 300 100 100 200 200 300 300 100 100 200 200 300 300 According to some embodiments the first production unit,′ is an exposure unit, and the set of second production units,′ is a set of development units. Alternatively, the first production unit is an imaging unit,′, and the second production units are exposure units,′ or development units,′. Alternatively, the first production unit is an imaging unit,′, and the second production units are exposure units,′, and the third production units are development units,′.

300 300 300 300 Afterwards, the treated relief precursor is received at one of the set of second production units,′. Then said relief precursor is treated in accordance with the received second job instruction by one second production unit,′.

300 300 According to some embodiments, after receiving the relief precursor at the one second production unit,′, the one second production unit reads the indication of the identifier. The one second production unit then retrieves the second job instruction from a memory of the one second production unit based on the read indication.

According to some embodiments at least one of the production units, under one possibility all the production units, only receives the identifier. The job instruction is stored in the memory of the at least one production unit, under one possibility all the production units.

300 300 1 300 300 12 12 12 1 300 Finally the second job instruction is removed from all second production units,′ of the set. According to some embodiments, this step comprises sending a message Mby the one second production unitto any other second production unit′ of the set, when the one second production unit has treated the relief precursoror has started treating the relief precursoror has received the relief precursor, to remove the second job instruction. Upon receiving the message Mthe other second production unitremoves the second job instruction from a list of job instructions.

10 50 50 According to some embodiments the status of at least one, preferably all the production units in the relief plate production systemis updated in real time to the central control means, such as whether a job has been started on a production unit or a job has been finished on a production unit. In this way the central control meanscan keep an accurate track of the jobs corresponding to the transmitted job instructions.

12 12 50 12 50 According to some embodiments, after a production unit has received a relief plate precursorand an indication of the identifier of this relief plate precursor, this production unit asks the central control meanswhether it is allowed to start the treatment of the relief plate precursorin accordance with the received job instruction. According to one embodiment, when two operators have selected the same job on two production units, the central control meansorders the production unit on which the job is selected earlier to start the job, and asks the production unit on which the job is selected later not to start the job.

10 50 50 10 According to some embodiments, after the relief plate production systemfinishes treating a relief plate precursor, at least a parameter of the relief plate, such as the relief depth and/or a dot characteristic of at least an area of the relief plate, is measured. The measured parameter is then sent to the central control means. In this manner the central control meansis able to record the characteristics of the relief plate made by the relief plate production system. The measurement is for example carried out by a production unit which has treated the relief plate precursor, and/or by a measurement unit distinct from the at least one production unit.

Preferably, the measurement data comprises data about a physical property of a treated relief plate precursor, such as a plate thickness, and/or a thickness of a floor of the treated relief plate precursor, and/or measurement data based on a measured printing result such as a lowest stable tonal value produced in the relief plate, and/or a dot gain. The lowest stable tonal value for example is determined through a visual inspection using a microscope on a printed test image which contains fields with different tonal values. The dot gain is for example determined by using a colour densitometer on a printed test image. With these measurement data the relief plate report can provide an accurate indication of the results of the treatments performed on the relief plate precursor, which may help in pinpointing the source of any potential problem on the relief plate.

Additional measurement data concerning the properties of a relief precursor or relief are selected from the group of: thickness of the precursor, thickness of the finished plate, thickness of the floor, depth of the relief, minimum tonal value, tonal value curve, dot gain curve, isolated dot sizes, depth of negative lines, width of positive lines, straightness of lines, depth of negative dots, shape of dots, shoulder angle, roundness of dots (evaluated on a range from round tops to flat tops), intermediate depth of tonal value fields, hardness, surface energy of floor and/or printing features (e.g. using contact angle measurement), elasticity, elastic modulus, curling tendency, anisotropy, roughness, resilience, or combinations thereof.

Optionally, the measurement data comprises production unit related data and/or data related to the environment around a production unit, such as a temperature of the relief plate precursor before and/or during and/or after the treatment, and/or a temperature inside at least one production unit. Such production unit and/or environmental data may further help in analysing and optimising the relief plate manufacturing process. For example, when the quality of the printing results is reduced or increased without having changed the manufacturing process, such parameters may help in understanding where the manufacturing process should be adjusted or better controlled.

Optionally, the measurement data comprises data based on results of printing with the treated plate, optionally further including printing related data such as type of ink, type of printing medium. For example, a client performing the printing process may provide feedback on the quality of the printing results obtained with a certain type of ink and printing medium. Consequently, one could derive more directly whether any potential issue came from the manufacturing of the relief plate itself or rather from a step in the printing process.

Measurements may be performed when the plate is finished but also in between the different treatment steps in the different production units. For example, the method may comprise the step of performing measurements on a plate treated in a production unit of said plurality of production units and transmitting a result of the measurements by said production unit and/or by a computer terminal, preferably a mobile terminal, to the central control means. The measurements may be performed in the production unit and/or in a separate measurement unit. Also, the measurements may be performed by an operator and input by the operator in a computer terminal which transmits the measurement results to the central control means.

10 11 FIGS.and 10 100 100 200 300 300 400 400 400 50 600 50 500 50 500 show some embodiments under the third aspect of the present disclosure. The relief plate production systemcomprises a plurality of production units. The plurality of production units comprises at least one connected production unit,′,′,,′,,′,″ configured to communicate with a central control meansand/or with another connected production unit. The plurality of production units also comprises at least one unconnected production unitunable to communicate with the central control meansand/or with the at least one connected production unit. The production system also comprises a mobile deviceconfigured to communicate with a central control meansand/or with the at least one connected production unit. The mobile deviceis for example a tablet.

600 50 600 According to some embodiments at least one unconnected production unitdoes not understand the instruction from the central control means. According to some embodiments at least one unconnected production unitis controlled by manual input from an operator.

10 FIG. 10 50 According to some embodiments, such as that shown in, the relief plate production systemcomprises a central control means.

50 500 50 500 500 50 100 500 500 100 500 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 11 FIG. According to some embodiments, the central control meanssends the job instruction to the mobile device. According to some embodiments, the central control meanssends the job instruction directly to the at least one connected production unit, for example directly to all the connected production units (see for example) or all the connected production units downstream or upstream of the mobile device, without the intermediary of the mobile device. Alternatively or in addition, as shown inthe central control meansonly sends the job instruction to one or several production units (the imaging unitin) upstream of the mobile devicebut not to the production units downstream of and/or at the same production level as the mobile device. The imaging unitthen sends the job instruction to the mobile deviceand to one or several connected production units.

500 300 300 400 400 400 600 600 According to some embodiments the mobile devicesends the job instruction to at least one connected production unit,′;,′,″ downstream of the unconnected production unit, for example to all the connected production units downstream of the unconnected production unit.

600 600 200 500 1 600 600 12 12 12 1 200 10 11 FIGS.and According to some embodiments, the unconnected production unitperforms substantially the same function in plate production as another connected production unit. In the embodiments shown in, the unconnected production unitperforms substantially the same function in plate production as the exposure unit′. Preferably, the mobile devicesending a message Mto any other connected production unit which performs substantially the same function as the unconnected production unit, when the unconnected production unithas treated the relief precursoror has started treating the relief precursoror has received the relief precursor, to remove the job instruction. Upon receiving the message Mthe connected production unit′ removes the job instruction from a list of job instructions.

10 50 50 According to some embodiments the relief plate production systemcomprises at least two connected production units. Preferably the at least two connected production units are able to communicate with each other, either directly or through a central control means. More generally according to some embodiments of the present disclosure there is no direct communication amongst the production units. All the communication amongst the production units is performed through the central control means. According to some embodiments some of the at least two connected production units belong to a set of production units, the production units in the same set having substantially the same function. Alternatively or in addition, the at least two connected production units have different functions and are configured to perform different functions in the relief plate production.

500 14 12 Under the third aspect of the disclosure, first the mobile devicereceives a job instruction. Said job instruction includes at least an identifier of a relief plateto be produced from a relief precursor.

600 12 12 600 12 Next one unconnected production unitof the at least one unconnected production unit receives a relief precursorand an indication of the identifier of this relief precursor. The unconnected production unitthen treats the relief precursorin accordance with the received job instruction.

500 600 600 500 600 500 600 600 600 600 500 According to some embodiments, an operator enters an input derived from the job instruction received on the mobile deviceinto the unconnected production unit. The input is a command comprehensible to the unconnected production unit. Alternatively, the mobile devicesends the job instruction to the unconnected production unitwithout the involvement of a human operator. The mobile devicesends the job instruction automatically to the unconnected production unit, or sends the job instruction to the unconnected production unitupon a request from the unconnected production unit, for example when the unconnected production unitinforms the mobile devicethat the former is ready to take instructions.

500 12 500 According to some embodiments, an operator enters an input into the mobile deviceto indicate that a relief precursorhas been or will be treated by the unconnected production unit.

500 50 200 100 200 300 400 12 600 600 50 500 500 600 10 600 600 500 50 According to some embodiments the mobile devicesends a message to the central control meansand/or to a connected production unit′ of the at least one connected production unit,,,to indicate that the relief precursorhas been or will be treated by the one unconnected production unit. More generally, the status of the unconnected production unitcan be made known to the central control means theand/or to at least one connected production unit via the mobile device. For example, the mobile devicerepresents the unconnected production unitin the relief plate production system. The operator enters data into the unconnected production unit. In addition or alternatively, the operator inputs data about the unconnected production unitto the mobile devicewhich sends the data to the central control meansand/or a connected production unit.

50 50 According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an operator may enter an input on a machine which has access to the central control means, the machine being distinct from the at least one production unit. The input is then sent to the central control means. In this way the operator does not have to enter the input on a production unit. This provides the operator with more flexibility.

10 11 FIGS.and 11 FIG. 10 FIG. 10 10 300 300 10 100 100 300 300 400 400 400 As shown in the, the production systemmay comprise at least a set of connected production units. The production units of the same set preferably have substantially the same function in the plate production process. In the embodiment shown inthe production systemcomprises a set of development units,′. In the embodiment shown inthe production systemcomprises a set of imaging units,′, a set of development units,′, and a set of post-processing units,′,″.

50 50 According to some embodiments, at least a part of the job instruction is created externally to the central control means, such as by a layout software configured to arrange at least one raster image file, such as a tiff file on an area corresponding to the relief plate precursor. According to some embodiments the rest of the job instruction is completed by the central control means, optionally further by a production unit which receives the part of the job instruction.

12 FIG. 50 shows some embodiments of the content of the job instruction. According to some embodiments the job instruction comprises a name. The name for example includes a time stamp. However, the time stamp may also be included in the job instruction message itself. The time stamp may indicate the moment when the job has been created and is no longer in preparation. As an alternative the time stamp indicates the moment when the job instruction(s) is/are sent from the central control means. In some embodiments the time stamp may function as the identifier of the relief precursor, but typically a separate identifier of the relief precursor is added, see below.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises a production unit displaying a set of job instructions received at the respective production unit in an ordered manner, based on the time stamps of the set of job instructions.

In some embodiments, the job instruction may include a priority indication, in which case the priority indication may also be taken into account when displaying the list of job instructions. This may be especially interesting when the production unit is an imaging unit as this is typically a first production unit which largely determines the time schedule.

The job instruction may also include, either in the name or in the message itself, one or more of the following: a producer name, a production location, production date of the precursor, a lot number, an expiry information in terms of print impressions or run length, a colour information on the colour in which the relief plate shall be printing, an ink information on the type or name of ink that shall be used for printing, a printing machine information such as the type or name or technology of printing machine to be used, an orientation information (e.g. indicating printing direction or registration marks), cutting information (cutting marks or instructions), software information (e.g. type and release of software used to generate the image files), the raster image processing conditions, an operator name, quality information, information on the resolution, information on the surface screening applied.

The job instruction may also comprise an identifier of the relief precursor, typically a unique identifier. Each job instruction has its own unique identifier distinct from that of any other job instruction. That unique identifier is according to some embodiments a universally unique identifier (UUID). The UUID may be created using specific software for example Win32 API function UuidCreate that is provided by Microsoft as a part of the Windows API.

Each job preferably has a unique job identifier.

12 12 12 12 12 12 1 12 2 12 1 12 The job instruction may also comprise at least one look-up parameter configured to allow a production unit to determine the configuration settings to be used to treat the relief precursor. The look-up parameter may comprise information on the type of the relief precursor. Alternatively or in addition, the look-up parameter may comprise information on the size of the relief precursor. Alternatively or in addition, the look-up parameter may comprise information on the thickness of the relief precursor. Alternatively or in addition, the look-up parameter may comprise information on different treatment options on the same type of relief precursor. For example, for one type of the relief precursorit may be desirable that the plate can be treated under different parameters to suit different customer needs. For example, for the plate type A with a customer requirement C, the job instruction comprises a first series of look-up parameters which enable the production unit to treat the relief precursorwith the setting 1. For the plate type A with a customer requirements C, the job instruction comprises a second series of look-up parameters which enable the production unit to treat the relief precursorwith the setting 1′. For a plate type B with a customer requirement C, the job instruction comprises a third series of look-up parameters which enable a production unit to treat the relief precursorwith the setting 2.

14 According to some embodiments, the job instruction comprises a reference to a preview file or a preview file of the relief plateto be made. The preview file is for instance a low resolution picture of the image file. The preview image is for example legible and/or understandable to a human. The preview image for example comprises at least one object or its lower resolution version in the image file.

12 According to some embodiments the preview file contains an indication of the identifier of the relief precursor, for example a barcode.

12 According to some embodiments, the job instruction may optionally comprise a reference to an image file, for example a tiff file, used to image the mask layer of the relief precursor.

12 14 Imaging a relief precursormay require several tiff files. For example, a relief platemay comprise the images from at least two image files. This for example corresponds to the situation where the printed medium has two pictures obtained from two different image files. In this case, the job instruction comprises a reference to at least two image files.

100 100 Given the relatively large size of tiff files preferably they are only sent to the imaging units,′, The preview file is for example sent to all production units, such as the imaging unit, the exposure unit, and/or the development unit, and/or the post-possessing unit.

12 100 100 200 200 12 12 According to some embodiments, the job instruction may comprise the imaging settings for producing the relief precursor. The imaging settings for example comprise the ablation settings for the imaging units,′, and/or the exposure settings for the exposure units,′. According to the embodiments where the job instruction comprises a reference to at least the two image files, the job instruction may comprise the imaging settings for each of the image files. For example, the job instruction may comprise a first exposure setting to expose at a lower intensity the first part of the relief precursorwhich has been imaged with the first image file, and a second exposure setting to expose at a higher intensity the second part of the relief precursorwhich has been imaged with the second image file.

14 Optionally, a job instruction can contain the commands for a number of different relief platesto be made.

12 12 According to some embodiments the identifier and/or the precursor type are alphanumerical characters inscribed in that relief precursor. Alternatively, the identifier and/or the precursor type may be included in barcodes or QR codes inscribed in the relief precursor.

In addition, each image file comprises an indication of an identifier, and/or registration marks and/or cutting marks. The identifier, cutting marks or registration marks may be inside the image area or outside of the image area. They may be included to form a relief which can print or a relief which is unable to print. The reliefs may be above or below the plate floor. The identifier may be present in form of a machine-readable code for example a barcode, QR code, microdots, sparse mark code, multibit code or in a code recognisable by a human e.g. an image or alphanumerical characters. The barcode is for example a hash of the UUID. The identifier in the present disclosure can be one or more of those described in WO 2022/026847 Al which is included herein by reference.

According to some embodiments the indication of the identifier and how it is manufactured are those described in WO 2022/112342 A1, or WO 2021/069489 A1, or WO 2020/156692 A1, or WO 2020/043875 A1, which are included herein by reference.

According to some embodiments for the jobs which are created and no longer in preparation at a different moment in time and/or for the job instructions which are sent out at a different moment in time, the job instructions have their own time stamps.

12 12 According to some embodiments of the present disclosure an operator reads the indication of the identifier. The operator for example reads the plate type and/or the customer requirements. The operator may also look at the time stamp. The operator may also look at the image of the file, for example the thumbnail of the mask layer, or a picture of the relief plate to be produced. The operator then selects a corresponding job from a list of jobs stored in the production unit which has received the relief precursor. For example, he compares the received relief precursorwith the pictures of the relief plates on the display and chooses the relief plate that corresponds to the received relief precursor.

According to some embodiments at least one, preferably each of, the plurality of production units has a display. In this case, the operator for instance selects the corresponding job from the list via the display.

13 FIG. According to some embodiments the method further comprises storing all received job instructions in a list. The method may comprise displaying a subset of the received job instructions, said subset including jobs which are ready to be performed and/or can be performed by the production unit.is a flow chart showing the steps carried out by a production unit to display only a subset of the received job instructions.

13 FIG. 1310 1310 1320 1 1 1330 1 1340 1320 1330 1310 1340 As shown in, in the stepfirst the production unit receives job instructions. In the stepthe production unit also stores the job instructions in a list. Next, in the stepthe production unit determines whether it has received the message Mfor one of the job instructions. If the production unit has received the message M, then in the stepthe production unit removes the job instruction from the list of job instructions. If instead the production unit decides that it has not received the message Mfor one of the job instructions, it moves on to the stepto decide whether it is suitable for the job. According to some embodiments, the production unit skips the stepsandand proceeds from the stepto the stepdirectly.

1340 1350 2 2 1360 1370 If the production unit decides that it is suitable for the job in the step, next it proceeds to the stepto decide whether it has received a message Mfor one of the job instructions. If the production unit decides that it has received the message M, it adds this job instruction to a subset of received job instructions in the step. The subset corresponds with the jobs that can or are ready to be performed by the production unit. The production unit then displays the subset of the received job instructions, in the step.

12 1380 1390 12 13100 When the production unit receives a relief precursorand add indication of its identifier (step) it reads the indication of the identifier. A corresponding job is then selected from a list of jobs corresponding to the subset stored in the production unit, in the step. The production unit then treats the relief precursorin accordance with the received job instruction, in the step.

2 200 12 2 300 300 200 5 FIG. According to some embodiments said subset includes jobs for which a message Mhas been received from a downstream production unit directly downstream of the respective production unit to indicate that the relief precursor has been or will be processed by the downstream production unit. For example, in reference tothe exposure unitwhich receives the relief precursorreceives a message Mfrom one of the development units,′ directly downstream of the exposure unit.

Alternatively or in addition, when the production unit receives a plate, it reads the indication of the identifier. The production unit for example reads an indication corresponding with the time stamp. The production unit then selects a corresponding job from a list of jobs stored in the production unit based thereon. The production unit then derives the plate type and/or the customer identification from the selected job.

Alternatively or in addition, the plurality of production units comprises at least a set of productions unit having substantially the same main function but different optional functions. According to this embodiment a received job instruction may only be displayed on a production unit having suitable optional functions. The optional functions may be a higher exposure intensity, or whether a specific type of development liquid necessary to develop a certain type of exposed relief precursor is available in a development unit.